Setubal is in Portugal on the Atlantic coast south of Lisbon. It was in 1967 that two student brothers, Henrique and Domingo, arrived there. Thanks to the parish priest, they went to a slum area on the side of the hill that overlooks the town. Bonds of friendship were created, and in 1974, when the people of the area organised themselves to build proper homes after the fall of the dictatorship, the fraternity was integrated into it. About 300 families live there now. And that is where Luis and Henrique live; Luis works at the Higher Polytechnic Institute. read more »

"I
lost my heart to Jesus of Nazareth”

I was invited to speak about
“Nazareth”. Of course this is a central theme in
the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld: like Brother Charles we were
all seduced by the “human face of God at Nazareth” as Emmanuel Asi says. So I guess that nothing new will come out, but it
is always important to come back to the source and drink fresh water.

My presentation will have 3 points:

- to look at
how Charles de Foucauld’s conception of Nazareth evolved;

- to go through
the Gospel and see what does that mean for Jesus to be a man of
Nazareth;

- some
fundamental attitudes to enter into the dynamic of Nazareth. read more »

Marc put these notes to paper following a 'presentation' for the Brothers of Central Africa during their regional meeting in September 2007. He is very aware of always repeating some of the same things, but one has never finished 'ruminating' on certain themes that are dear to us... read more »

An update in the life of this fraternity. Today all three are retired, and a fourth brother, Enrique (Henry), who lived as a vagabond, has joined them. He is now severely disabled. This newsletter describes a little of this change in the life of the fraternity. read more »